Mechanism for pulling the hairs from pelts



Aug. 9,1949. M; cAssE MECHANISM FOR PULLING THE HAIRS FROM PELTS 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 2, 1947 INIVE Nron ATTORNEY Aug. 1949. M. CA S:2,478,238

MECHANISM FOR PULLING THE HAIRS FROM PELTS Filed May 2, 1947 2Sheets-Sheet 2 o ammmmw I b0 v Mar-ze/ Caff ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 9,1949 UNITED STATES PATENT MECHANISM Foe PULLING THE HAIRS FROM PELTSMarcel Cass, Essonnes, France Application May 2, 1947, Serial No.745,390 In France February 8, 1947 4 Claims.

This invention has, for its object: a mechanism for pulling the hairsfrom pelts which is capable of nipping and pul'lingsaid hairs withoutdeteriorating them orthe fur which, can be used on a machine inwhichrth'e pelt is fed in automatically with its butt first andmoved onin uniform motion untilits face and is; stripped from its hairs.

It is well known thatthe hairs are longer and stiffer than the remainderof the coat or fur and that it is necessary to remove them for many usesof the pelt or thefur, in particular for the production of felt. Suchremoval is effected by stretching the peltover a rather abruptly roundedbar, the ilesh side or the pelt'being in contact with the bar in orderto'brlstle up the coat, after which the hairs are nipped and torn out.

The mehafiishl" according to this invention possesses the-advantage oinipping said hairs as close as possible tothii roots and or enablin totreat the pelts; in particular rabbit pelts, in one single operationfrom the butt up to the face end; with this end in now, said mechanismcomprizes a pair or reciprocatab e retaining tools adapted to retainenarrow tuft of the coat while allowing the hairs to pass through theslit therebetween to be nipped and pulled out" by a pair 01:" pulling130018;

Said. pulling tools are mounted for reciprocatory' motion in such mannerthat they can nip the hairs quiteclose to the skin and hold them as theyare moved backwards for a sufficiently long time'to make it certain thatthe hairs are torn out even if they happened to be income pletelystretched when nipped: moreover, synchronism in the-movements of theretaining tools and of the pulling tools isobtained with the aid ofactuating mechanismcomprising common parts; for instance rods journaliedonone and the same crank pin or on pair of pins rigid with each other;

The retainin tools are reciprocated in guides while the pulling toolsare carried by a rod and mounted resiliently so that they shall remainpressed against eachother during the pulling 'actlorl.

A preferred; embodiment of the mechanism according to the: invention isillustrated by way of example in the appended drawing.

Figure 1 is a diagrammatical view of the mechanism.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view showing how the desired action may; be:obtained.

Figure 3 is a sectional View taken on line III-III in Fig. 4 of ahair-pulling machine.

Figure 4' iilustrates the same iiiachine in sectional view taken on linein Fig, 3.

The bar (1 guides the pelt that an attendant passes slowly in a downwarddirection while keeping it stretched, or that is kept stretched and 2fed through. bya pair of fluted rolls r that press it against the bar,the rotation of the lower roll being a little more rapidithan. that ofthe upper r01.

The retaining tools b are recipro'oat'ed towards and away from eachother in guides 2'; whereby they allow a small tuft of the coat to passtherebetween and then retain it while-the tools 6 hip the hairs and tearthem out in their backward movement during which they remain pressedagainst each other.

The retaining tools. are constituted by a pair of round-edged plates 1;reciprocated in their respective planes in a directionat, right anglesto the axis of the bar. Said tools 17. may have various designs providedthey retain their features, that is, their acting as jaws to nip thehairs and their being guided in their reciprocatory motion.

The tools are at all times positiiihed symmetrically with respect to thehorizontal plane -II--II and each of them is actuated" by a rod 0connected at one end thereof; with said"- tool b and at its otherendzwith a movablepart, e; g; a crank m rockable about a shaft s. InFiga 2 the same Arabian figures: are used to denote the correspondingpositions or the: tuft=retaining tool b and of the pivot Z on the circled: The unaccented figures relate to the lower tool and the accented onesto the upper tool;

The pulling tools e are mounted resiliently on one end of a rod fwhoseother-end is journalled at q on a crank 12 rigid with crank m and whosemiddle portion is pivotedto ancccentri'c Q. The same accented andunaccented Arabian figures indicate the positions assumed by the pivotsq for the rods 1 on the circles (1 and the corresponding positions eachpulling tool end would assume in the absence of the other. In fact, saidpulling tools are mounted "resiliently at the ends of the rds b, so thattheportions of the paths marked out by points 0, I, 2, 3, 4, 5, p and o,i, 2', 3, 4', 5', p are not described actually since the ends 0 remainpressed against each other and are moved substantially along the segment0---p.

Synchronisrn in the actions or the two pairs of tools is obtainedowil'lg to the fact that the rod 0 that reciprocat'es the tuft-keepingtools is pivoted to the shank m iig'id era-ilk it which itself is rockedby the roo ,fthat aotllats the hair-pulling tools a As shown in Fig; 2,-the angle by which the cranks m and n are offset with respect to eachother is such that the pulling tools e will begin to nip the hairs armto pun theli'i just a little while after the tuft-fkfiifig tools 2: arenearest to each other, which enables" them to act with maximumefieotive'iiss curing the backward stroke of the pulling tools. Moreoveras the latter are moving backwards, that is, as the pin q on which thelever f is pivoted to the crank n describes an arc marked out by thepoints I, 2, 3, 4, on the circle 01, the pin lon which the lever c ispivoted to the crank m will describe an are substantially at rightangles to the direction in which the tools b are reciprocated, with theresult that the latter are displaced by quite a little amount and remainclose to each other during the backward movement of the tools e.

The pulling tools 0 may be mounted resiliently in any suitable manner,be it that each of them is slidably received in a guide rigid with therelated lever f and is returned by springs up to an end position inwhich it will remain as long as it is out of engagement with thecompanion tool, or that each tool is rigidly secured to one end of anarm h swingable about a pin 70 on rod 1, said arm compressing orextending a spring or a rubber block a by which it is urged towards theend position in which it remains as long as the hairpulling tools areout of engagement with each other.

The shafts for the eccentrics g are coupled with driving means by whichthey are rotated uniformly and synchronously.

The cranks m and it may be replaced by any other suitable gear leadingto the same kinematical results, e. g. by eccentrics m and n as in theembodiment described hereinafter.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate a preferred embodiment of a machine accordingto this invention. The tuft-retaining tools b and the hair-pulling toolse are arranged symmetrically with respect to the plane IIII. A pair ofshafts t coupled together are driven through the medium of a pair ofequal gear wheels u and flexible couplings z.

The upper coupling comprizes a tenon .21 received in a slot 22; thisarrangement enables to move the upper tools away from the lower ones bytilting the upper frame half in which said tools are mounted about theshaft to with the aid of a screw 1) rotated by means of a hand-wheel vto provide for an easy access to the tools and mechanisms for adjustmentand cleaning purposes. The tool-actuating mechanisms are symmetric withrespect to the plane IIII. Each shaft t is mounted in antifrictionbearings 11 and is formed with an eccentric journal 9 and carries abalancing weight II. offset by an angle of 180 with respect to theeccentric journal g.

Antifriction bearings are mounted on said eccentric journal 9 and therod 1 is mounted on said bearings.

The pulling plates e are carried at one end of the rod f by resilientmeans constituted by a rubber sleeve 7' clamped between the shaft k andthe rod end.

The rod is mounted at its other end on an antifriction bearing which inits turn is mounted on an eccentric journal 71/ formed on a shaft s.

The same shaft .9 is formed with a further eccentric journal m offset bya definite angle with respect to the journal n and carrying anantifriction bearing on which is mounted one end of the rod 0. The otherend of rod 0 carries a pin that carries an antifriction bearing on whichis mounted one end of the tool b to be reciprocated in the guides z.

The machine according to this invention is so arranged that thepelt-supporting bar a is located quite close to the tools b. Same aremoved towards each other and enclose a narrow tuft of the coat,whereafter the tools e in turn are moved towards each other to nip thehairs and pull them out thereafter, the tools b ande are moved away fromtheir respective companion tools, then again towards each other, and soon. The hairs torn out are sucked away through the inside of the casingas indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An automatic mechanism for pulling out the hairs from a pelt whichmoves around a slender bar adjacent to said mechanism with the fleshside in contact with said bar, comprising two mobile tools, namely, aretaining tool and a pulling tool, each of said tools comprising a pairof elements arranged symmetrically with respect to the same plane whichis preferably horizontal and passes through aforesaid bar, said toolsbeing so arranged that the retaining tool is closer to the bar and thepulling tool farther away from said bar, two eccentrics revolving insynchronism around two axes parallel to said rod and disposedsymmetrically with regard to aforesaid plane, said eccentrics actuatingthe two elements of the retaining tool to cause them to move toward oneanother to hold a tuft from the pelt, and then move away from oneanother, thus releasing said tuft, and also actuating the two elementsof the pulling tool to bring the elements of the pulling tool closer tothe elements of the retaining tool, move said elements toward-oneanother to grip the hairs of the pelt, then move said elements backwardto pull the hairs from the pelt and thereafter move said elements awayfrom one another to release the pulled hairs, and rapidly repeatingthese sequences of operations.

2. A mechanism in accordance with claim 1, comprising a mounted rockingshaft on each eccentric, a crank actuated by an end of each of saidshafts, said cranks actuating the two elements of the retaining tool,the other end of each of the shafts each actuating one of the twoelements of the pulling tool.

3. An automatic mechanism for pulling out the hairs from a peltaccording to claim 1 comprising a resilient mounting for each element ofthe hair-pulling tool and means for the actuation of said elementswhereby same would follow a path beyond the plane of symmetry as saidelements are located in the vicinity of the retaining tool and during atleast part of their displacement away therefrom if they were not toengage each other on said plane of symmetry.

4. An automatic mechanism for pulling out the hairs from a peltaccording to claim 1 comprising a pair of frame halves, supports in theone frame half for all those tool elements and means for their actuationwhich are located on one side of the plane of symmetry, supports in theother frame half for all those tool elements and means for theiractuation which are located on the other side of the plane of symmetryand means to move one frame half away from the other for the purpose ofcleaning and inspecting the mechanism and then back into workingposition.

MARCEL CASSE.

REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 243,152 Mueller June 21, 1881

